At the start of the 20th Century, the U.S. led the world in aviation advances beginning in 1903. 15 years later, however, U.S. airmen were flying European-designed aircraft because American planes were inadequate for service on the Western Front. Why was the U.S. so poorly prepared? The author takes a hard look at the early years of U.S. military aviation and on the damaging effects of the chronic lack of gov't funding, the disruptive influence of a civilian